NFL success for undrafted QBs on the rise

Undrafted QBs increasingly find NFL success

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, November 20, 2008

Photo: Evan Vucci, AP

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Reporters chase Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo off the field after he led his team to a 14-10 victory over the Washington Redskins on Sunday, November 16, 2008 in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Reporters chase Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo off the field after he led his team to a 14-10 victory over the Washington Redskins on Sunday, November 16, 2008 in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Photo: Evan Vucci, AP

NFL success for undrafted QBs on the rise

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For the second time in three weeks, a 49ers game will feature opposing quarterbacks who were not drafted by an NFL team. The game in between had a starting guy drafted in the sixth round.

So much for the league's exalted scouting process at its most important position.

"You're going to have to forgive me if I'm not crazy about the scouting process," said Shaun Hill, who will start for the 49ers against fellow un-draftee Tony Romo of the Cowboys on Sunday at Texas Stadium.

"I wasn't even invited to the scouting combine or any all-star game," Hill said. "There's guys I played with I thought for sure they were going to get a chance. There's a lot of guys on the street that can play this game. Then there are guys like myself who were overlooked at first but were able to get an opportunity."

Hill and Romo, in fact, have similar career arcs. Neither quarterback threw a pass in a regular-season game for three years, from 2003-05. Hill, 28, went five full seasons without playing in a game at all except for a last-play kneel-down for Minnesota in '05. Romo, also 28, did not get meaningful playing time in Dallas until '06.

"Tony Romo hung around here for about four years and didn't play at all, and nobody had ever heard of him," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips told Bay Area reporters Wednesday in a conference call. "It certainly can happen. It takes a little while for them to have their opportunity and for them to be ready to play. Shaun's done a good job for them."

In the Arizona game Nov. 10, Hill opposed the most famous recent undrafted quarterback of all in Kurt Warner, a two-time league MVP poised to possibly win his third. It took a confusing and mishandled final few seconds for the undrafted Warner to beat the undrafted Hill.

"There are guys all across the league like that," Romo said in a conference call. "More and more, the No. 1 picks aren't the guys that end up being the guy. Sometimes it's just a matter of waiting for your opportunity."

The 49ers have a guy they thought was going to be the guy, but it turned out Alex Smith was not that guy after all. Now he's just a guy while the steady, persistent and patient Hill is The Guy.

"There are times when it gets tough sitting, but persistence pays off," said Hill, named NFC offensive player of the week for his game against St. Louis in leading the 49ers to 35 first-half points. "There's also an element of guys getting held to a certain standard of where they were drafted at. I wasn't drafted, so I was probably held to a lower standard where they say, 'He's improving every year.' That doesn't apply to guys drafted high."

In 2 1/2 games as the starter, Hill has completed 59 percent of his passes for 603 yards and a passer rating off 91.6. Romo missed three games for Dallas with a broken pinkie on his passing (right) hand before returning last week against Washington. He's completed nearly 65 percent of his throws for 1,887 yards and has a rating of 99.9.

The biggest difference between the two is that Romo plays for a team always in the news and has a celebrity girlfriend in Jessica Simpson. Hill plays for a team only recently made relevant by virtue of interim coach Mike Singletary.

"It's a combination of getting the right guy for the right system with an offensive line he gains confidence in," Singletary said. "Give him a little time."

Hill of Maryland and Romo of Eastern Illinois had plenty of time after signing rookie free-agent contracts with Minnesota (2002) and Dallas ('03), respectively.

While Romo is set as Dallas' starter for years to come, the 49ers have not contemplated Hill as their guy beyond this season.

"Don't really know," Singletary said. "Right now all I know is what I have, and I don't take it any farther than that."

Neither does Hill, who is happy to have what he has, for as long as he has it.

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